The present invention relates to computer processing systems, and more specifically, to a web server in an embedded computer processing system.
Computer systems are often incorporated in embedded systems to provide dedicated control and monitoring functions for larger mechanical and/or electrical systems. In contrast to a general purpose computer system, an embedded system is optimized to perform specific tasks. As such, an embedded system is typically designed to meet certain minimum feature requirements but may not directly include a general-purpose user interface. As one example, an embedded system can be implemented as one or more cards installed in a chassis designed to operate in a variety of environmentally harsh conditions, such as a mobile radar control system. An embedded system can incorporate interfaces to a number of sensors and actuators, but may have limited ability to support reconfiguration and low-level diagnostics when deployed in an intended field of operation.
Some embedded systems can engage in user initiated built-in tests, but collection and display of results may be limited to simple codes depending upon user interface capabilities of the embedded systems. Other embedded systems implement complex proprietary communication interfaces to provide test and diagnostic support. Such proprietary solutions can be difficult to maintain as they often require special purpose software both internal and external to the embedded systems. Once embedded systems are deployed in the field, it can also be challenging to manage version control issues as various deployed systems may have different versions of software and hardware configurations. Managing interactions between interdependent components with different version combinations adds to the complexity of interface design.